The good life: more fun, better housing
Toasting with friends | Getty Images
Having more fun, better housing, and more money would improve anyone’s life. Who doesn’t want that?
What if you had more money in your pocket? More friends? More music? More dancing? More meaningful conversations? More good food – home cooked even?
Housing and sociability are two sides of the same coin. More people live alone today than at any time in human history. Although millions wouldn’t have it any other way, keeping up one’s social life falls squarely on you, with no spouse or BFF (best friend forever) for pleasant company or unplanned casual fun. Not just your social life, you are solely responsible for maintaining your home, stocking it, and keeping everything running.
Connecting with your community is the most direct route to secure housing and a satisfying life. Perhaps sharing your home would be more satisfying than solo living.
More fun
It can get lonely. Loneliness is a hot topic these days. Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States raised the alarm after he embarked on a listening tour and learned that one-in-two American adults feel lonely! I knew it was high but that number shocks me.
Daniel Weinzveg’s TED Talk, The Surprising Cure for Loneliness says that cultivating a practice of awe - acknowledging, wondering, and expressing is a way to “resist the gravitational pull toward isolation”. We need more than that but it’s a good start. I recommend socializing more.
For many people there is just too much work and some of it doesn’t get done. Food is a prime example. Unless you enjoy it, eating healthfully requires planning and repetitive effort. It is no surprise that the prepared food market is enormous and growing - $190.71 billion in 2025 and projected to grow to $291.27 billion in 2032. This is not healthy for people or the environment.
Better housing
Our housing crisis that began when Reagan took office has grown steadily worse and the “free market” shows no sign of meeting our crushing need for affordable housing anytime soon. For many people, sharing a home is the only hope of living indoors but finding the right people and situation is a daunting quest. Living in an environment that suits one’s life stage, lifestyle, and budget could remedy many of the challenges that everyone faces.
A house, apartment building, or a neighborhood that looks out for its members and has a sharing mind set could be the best of all worlds. Living within house-slipper-distance of people who know and care about you can fill this bill.
Whether one’s interest is cooking, home repair, tinkering with cars, looking after children, or keeping people company, or an infinite variety of talents, everyone has a gift to share.
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